The Oakland Press/TIM THOMPSON
Detroit Edison employees at the down power lines across Voorheis Road at Lynn Avenue in Waterford after Thursday night's storms, pictured Friday.

Oakland County continues to recover from the heavy downpour and high winds that downed trees, power lines and caused flooding during the Thursday afternoon rush hour.

In hard-hit Pontiac, as many as 60 streets flooded, with more than 20 traffic lights dark and many trees down. Large tree branches were strewn in yards and in roadways.

The Pioneer Highlands subdivision west of Telegraph Road and south of Voorheis Road suffered significant damage.

"I've never seen the wind so hard," said Mona Hofmeister, president of the neighborhood association in the area. "It got so dark, and the rain just came down -- it was so hard you couldn't see. It was bad."

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Hofmeister said a tree fell on a car on Pioneer Drive, crushing it.

Terry King, the city's director of public works, said the extent of the damage is still being evaluated.

On Friday morning, he was working in Hofmeister's neighborhood.

"There's a lot of heavy wind damage around here," he said. "A lot of trees down, with branches all over."

A lot of homeowners were out trying to clean up the mess, King said.

The Oakland County Water Resources Commission is working to drain the 60 or so streets that were flooded in the city.

King expected most of the city's traffic lights to be turned back on by noon Friday, and credited the Oakland County Sheriff's Office for being the city's "eyes and ears" in the aftermath of the storm.

"We're just working very hard right now. It's going to be a busy day," King said. "It's probably going to go all the way into tomorrow before we get this mess cleaned up."

The National Weather Service in White Lake said 24-hour rainfall totals for Pontiac were 3.05 inches. In Lake Orion, 3.88 inches of rain fell. Davisburg reported 2.04 inches of rain.

A gust of 36 mph was recorded at Oakland County International Airport.